Grammaropolis

 How many of you hated grammar growing up (or still hate grammar for that matter)?  I didn't actually appreciate grammar until my second year of teaching when I was assigned to be the 4th grade writing teacher.  My first thought was, "Oh no, I have to teach grammar."  Over time though, I began to appreciate grammar but I never really think my students enjoyed it as much as I did.  You have to admit, grammar is basically learning a bunch of rules and then figuring out how to apply them.  How exciting can that get?  

Then I thought, "Grammar could be exciting if it could be taught using a game and or some type of technology."  That is when I discovered Grammaropolis.  Grammaropolis is a place where students can learn about the different parts of speech, watch videos and listen to songs to help explain different rules, and play games using the different skills learned.  


Suggestions for using Grammaropolis:  

1.  Don't let Grammaropolis do all of the teaching.  Introduce your students to the basic terms before ever sending them to the site.  The terms on the site will only confuse them if you have given them no background knowledge.

2.  Use Grammaropolis as a whole classroom experience before setting your students loose.  Talk with them about the different characters (each character is a different part of speech) and watch the introductory video with them.  Explain how to play each of the games as well.  

3.  Allow students to play the games, but also make sure they know how to look back at each character's description if they need help remembering information about each part of speech.

4.  Suggested Activity:  There is an online grammar book for students to read.  Have them read the book and then pick out the different grammar rules that are explained in the book.

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Word Sort, one of the games within Grammaropolis, is also available as an app for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. ($1.99)